Game of Gods
by NeyxusBriarblood
Summary: The Felt are growing in power and they aim to take over Skaia-City, only the rag-tag team of mutant vigilantes known as the Trolls can save the city from utter domination. Jade and her friends live in Skaia-City and, thanks to an unfortunate accident, are about to be thrown into the underworld of Skaia-City, rise to the challenge, and somehow still be able to be teenagers.
1. The Iron Knight

A girl sat on a park bench with her brother, throwing a stick to their loving family dog. They came here every other day to the Skaia-City park, playing fetch with Becquerel was a simple joy in their lives and they always savored it. Their names are John Egbert and Jade Harley and they loved coming here.

John took the stick and threw it back to Bec. He leaned back, relaxed, and stared up at the skies, "Man I'm happy for school to be out!" School had gotten out about three days ago and both were extremely relieved.

"Well you're lucky that you actually HAVE a summer to be happy about Slimer." John have a big grin and stuck his tongue out at Jade. John was just as smart as his sister but he's a pathological prankster like their father. He nearly had been given summer school after pulling off another grand prank involving green Ghostbusters-style slime. A straight "AB" report card can't keep him safe for long.

"You loved that prank, I got your locker neighbor pretty good!" He chuckled like an idiot and smiled. "Besides, I remember how you said he was giving you a hard time for the furry art in your locker door. He was a jackass and shouldn't be picking on my sister."

"Oh." Jade didn't realize the connection until just now, "I didn't realize… Thanks John."

"Don't worry about it, just be glad I talked Dave out of trying to beat him up. That guy wouldn't stand a chance against Dave."

"Hahaha! No one can, Dave's too fast for them." Jade glanced down at her watch, the time read 3:45. "Crap! I'm gonna be late, you can take Bec home right?" She stood up and hung her purse over her shoulder.

"Sure thing, go have fun with Rose and Roxy. Dad will probably have something made by the time he gets home. I hope it's not another cake." Dad is a baker at heart, which wouldn't be bad if he doesn't make about six cakes per day for a week after something noteworthy happens.

"Yeah, it's so good but he makes too many. Well text me if it is, I'll see ya later!"

* * *

"That was wonderful, don't you guys think so?" Jade and her friends Rose and Roxy walked out of the mall and back onto the streets.

"You kidding me? THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME," Roxy screamed into the air. "Too bad Janey couldn't come along though, shitty cooking lessons.."

Rose walked along with them, "It is a shame, she would have loved those spatulas we looked at. Besides, she doesn't really require lessons anyhow"

"Anyhow, Jade?" She spins around and starts walking backwards while looking at Jade. "Give me the low down, is your virtual but still not exactly related brother single?"

"Roxy! You don't just say such a thing out of nowhere."

Roxy shot a load of sarcasm at Rose, "Well sorry Ms. Proper, but John and I have been flirting for a while now and he hasn't made a move." She started doing a little dance, "I wanna know if he's for real about getting some of my sexiness."

Jade laughed as she danced, but afterwards she awkwardly looked off into space, "Err, well I didn't really know that you were interested in him… I don't really know, John is one of those guys who's really nice to everybody but I can say that he seems to have a liking for you."

"That's good enough for me," She turned back forwards and walked with a kind of triumphant poise to her. "It's not like Rosie here could tell me," Roxy nodded at her, "I haven't ever seen her even try to flirt with her."

Rose simply glanced back at Roxy and said, "If they really want to court me then they should have the tenacity to walk up to me and say so."

"Rosie, you aren't Bella and some hot vampire isn't just gonna drop from the fucking sky, stop a bus, and mack on ya." She gives a teasing wink at Rose, "You need to stick your neck out there and flaunt what you got."

"Roxy, you have a point but Rose can do what she wants and she's happy being single." Jade felt a vibration from her pocket and clumsily handled her bags into one hand to pull out her phone. On the screen, a message flashed in John's trademark blue: EB: hey, dad wants you home soon. your food's getting cold. "God, why am I always late! I'll see you guys later, my dad wants me home."

"Alrighty then, bye Jade" Roxy enthusiastically waves to her as they keep walking.

"We'll message you later, we need to do this again soon."

Jade waved back at them as she hurried off in the opposite direction. She looked down at her watch: 6:52. _Okay_, she thought to herself, _just get home as fast as you can and everything will be just fine._ She set off on a brisk pace and scooted her way through crowds of other citizens trying to get home like her. The streetlights became to come on as she continued walking down sidewalk after sidewalk. She looked back down at her watch as she was walking, 7:15. Jade looked back up to find the road blocked off for construction, including the sidewalk. "Ugh. Now I'm going to have to find a new way home."

She noticed an alleyway to the right of her, _Maybe I can get around through there._ She walked carefully through the darker alley, the hairs stood on the back of her neck. She suddenly had a very bad feeling. "Stop right there lil' girl." She quickly spun around to see a shadowed man, Jade couldn't make out his face but she could make out the revolver he was pointing at her. "Hand over those bags and your brains stay in that pretty little skull of yours," his voice was rough like gravel.

Jade slowly backed up a little bit, she was starting to panic, "Look, you don't have to do this… Just put down the gu-"

"I AIN'T PUTTING DOWN FUCKING ANYTHING!" He yelled at her, his thrusted the gun at her in aggression. "NOW HAND THE BAGS OVER BEFORE I KILL YOU!" As the last threat came out of his mouth a loud sound came from behind him. Something had dropped down and was staring at the assailant. The thug spun around and pointed the gun at the caped figure, "What the- HEY! You stay back, ya hear?!"

The figure stood up and seemed to grow about six inches from when he was squating on the ground. Jade's mind raced with thoughts, _That can't really be him could it? _The shade began to shape into the outline of a knight in dull grey armor. The thug fired the gun in panic, but the bullet stopped and bounced off of the now looming figure. The only thought Jade could think as she saw the robber thrown to the wall and blood drip from his forehead was "the Iron Knight."

The Iron Knight shrank back into a normal human figure (minus the costume) and offered a hand down to her. He spoke to her in a calm and peaceful voice, "Are you okay? I hope that fucking miserable slug gave you too much trouble."

Jade slowly took his hand and stood up, staring at his piercing bright red eyes. Before she knew it she was hugging him saying, "Thank you. You saved me."

He seemed surprised and nervously moved his arms to hug her back. "Y-You're welcome." He looked at her and gave a cough as he let go of her, "Ahem. Do you need anything else?"

"No," she leaned down to pick up the bags she had dropped, "I should be fin-" When she looked back up he was gone. She stood there for another minute in a strange melancholy and then walked home. All the way she couldn't help but feel that there was something watching over her.

* * *

Jade rushed into the front door and found John and Dad watching some old Groucho Marx on the TV. John looked over, "Hey Jade, how was the mall?"

Jade just walked past them and up the stairs, "Get on Pesterchum, now."

John looked confused as his sister climbed the stairs and he went after her. He quickly grabbed his phone and logged into Pesterchum. Jade had already invited him to a chatroom with him and all their friends.

-ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering the chatroom-

EB: hey guys. :)

TG: sup bro

GG: Hey, why has Jade all invited us to a chat?

EB: i don't know, jade hasn't told me anything. she just got home.

TT: Well she seemed to have a wonderful time at the shopping center so I can't say anything bad happened there.

TG: iz everything ok jade?

GG: okay first of all, something happened after i left roxy and rose.

GT: Did you have an unfortunate adventure? You could have just called me and I would have given whatever ruffian you faced what's coming to him.

TT: Jake, I highly doubt that whatever happened would qualify as an adventure.

GG: actually you could call it an adventure if you really wanted to.

EB: what happened :D

TT: Yes, do tell us instead of keeping us on the edges of our seats.

TG: come on jade, what happened?

GG: i got mugged…

At that moment, John lurched back in shock at her sister's answer. _Mugged?! But she looks fine and she still had all those bags. _John was tempted to go to her room and try to comfort her, but Jade wasn't the best person to intrude on. She wants to be alone and if I don't let her have some space then she's gonna blow a gasket. John woke his phone back and looked for the outcry from his friends… but there weren't any messages. _Guess they're just as shocked as I am._

GG: don't worry guys, im okay. just a lil shaken up i guess

TG: what the fuck happened out there?!

TG: who waz this fucker? well teach him a lesson about paint!

TG: pane*

TG: pain**

TT: Alright, I'll take point on this. Jade where did this all go down?

GG: guys… its fine. that guy who mugged me is…

GG: He's what Jade?...

GG: he's not a problem anymore. i got how and that all that matters.

TT: Jade, that doesn't add up I'm afraid. How did you escape your captor?

EB: im with rose, you came home with all your bags and you werent hurt so what happened?

GG: well you guys know about those vigilantes that popped up a few months ago…

GG: You were saved by a superhero…

TG: so your lois lane and you were saved by superman? is this a joke because the irony is killing dirk. i can hear him through the walls

GG: im serious!

GG: and it wasnt superman, it was the iron knight for your information.

TG: way to go jade! you scored the really cute one ;) *wonk*

GT: A bona fide superhero, you are one lucky lady Jade.

TG: not too mention that you met your brothers favorite

EB: he is not.

TG: youve told me on more than one occasion that he is

EB: he isnt my favorite

TT: So there is a favorite?

EB: NO!

TG: da nile isnt just a river in egypt john

GG: you guys can keep talking about this, im tired of hearing you guys talk about this like its a joke. i saw him and i felt like you guys would have wanted to hear that. ill talk to you in the morning. and not a word of this to anyone.

-gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering the chatroom-

EB: im out too, i dont need your ironic sass right now. night guys

-ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering the chatroom-

John put his phone down by his pillow and flopped onto the bed. _Wow, so she really did met a superhero. _The conversation had drained him, finding out that your sister just got mugged and met a vigilante takes a lot out of a guy. _Jade was lucky that the Iron Knight had been there, who knows what could have happened? I need to tell Karkat about this. _John reached for his phone without sitting up on the bed. He logged into his account on the forum site he went to find more cool programs (most of which were insanely bad), he had met this kid named Karkat. He seemed foreign or whatever but he and John had been talking for about two months now. John tapped on the screen to message him in Pesterchum:

-ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]-


	2. Karkat

On the otherside of town, a young man opens up his laptop to see a message pop up on his screen. The young man met his friend, if you can called him that, on a forum for other shitty programmers like himself. He may not be much but he's a… an acquaintance. Karkat opened up Pesterchum to respond to John:

-ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]-

EB: hey karkat.

CG: HELLO THERE IDIOT.

EB: so you know how you seem to know everything about the trolls and stuff.

CG: …. AND YOUR FUCKING POINT?

EB: well my sister was just saved by the iron knight. thought you would like to have known that.

CG: ONE. WHAT THE LITERAL FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! TWO. WHEN DID AN ASS SCRUBBER LIKE YOU GET A SISTER?

EB: jade has been around for awhile and it didnt really come up in conversation so i never said anything. and yeah, my sister jade was getting mugged or something (she hasnt given my friends or i any details and im not going to poke her for any) and the iron knight swoops down like batman and saves her.

CG: IS THAT ALL YOU KNOW?! THIS LIMITED STREAM OF DATA IS FUCKISHLY SHITTY AT BEST. DESPITE MY AMAZINGLY DEVELOPED BRAIN, THIS IS A HELL OF A SHOCK THAT A LICE-RIDDEN SLUG LIKE THE IRON KNIGHT CAME AND SAVED YOUR BUCKTOOTHED SISTER FROM SOME LAMEASS THUG.

EB: preaching to the choir karkat, my heads reeling from this crap. jade doesnt want us to tell dad or anybody… on that note dont tell her i told you.

CG: HOW WOULD I EVEN FUCKING TELL HER? I DO NOT POSSES HER PESTERCHUM HANDLE NOR HAVE I MET HER. SEEMS PRETTY IMPROBABLE THAT I COULD SUDDENLY OBTAIN HER INFORMATION AND THEN FOR GOD KNOWS WHY TELL HER THAT YOU TOLD ME.

EB: right. sorry, i feel like im talking to one of our friends like something.

CG: MAYBE I CAN SQUEEZE SOME STUFF OUT OF HER, I AM THE ONE AND ONLY OFFICIAL ON THE TROLLS. ALL OTHERS ARE JUST CLUSTERFUCKING THEMSELVES.

EB: well… ill talk to her about it. im not sure if she wants to talk to me about this and she definitely needs someone to talk to.

EB: here, im going to send you a message whenever i get an answer.

CG: IF ANYTHING I MIGHT BE ABLE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SHITBAG FROM AN EYEWITNESS. NOW SCRAM, I JUST GOT A WHOLE PILE OF SHIT DUMPED ON ME.

-carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB]-

Karkat leaned back in his chair, face towards the ceiling. He looked tranquil and deep in thought. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK. His sharp teeth gritted as he continued to scream fuck in his head for another two minutes. Afterwhich he reached under his desk and pulled out a soda from the dingy mini-fridge. Only around an hour ago he was patrolling the city and he just had to save the only normal person in his life's sister. Karkat let out a deep sigh and stared at the screen, so her name is Jade. Pretty name.

He wasn't even supposed to be talking to John, and now he saved his sister. All Karkat can hope for is that this will blow over, but that won't happen. No one forgets getting saved by a "super hero". He can't lie to John for that long, guilt would kill him. John is one of the last normal things in his life. It may not seem like a good idea, but trying to talk to Jade isn't all that bad.

She was different. Usually, people run away when they see a grey-skinned mutant even when he's saving their lives. But Jade, she didn't run. She thanked him, even hugged him… I never thought something like that would ever happen again. Karkat looked around in the large warehouse that he and the other Trolls took over. The lights were all out but he could still make out the outlines of their stuff. It wasn't much but it was something, most had been fixed and cleaned up from stuff people threw away. He got up from his flimsy desk and plopped on the dingy grey mattress on the other side of his "room". Maybe this is just a dream. Then again, I've thought that every since this whole mess happened. His mind drifted as he tried to think of his life before all of this happened.

* * *

Karkat was woken up by a large amount of arguing coming from their makeshift kitchen. Your typical fucked up morning. He sat up and ruffled his hair around to try and make it look not entirely messed up. Over in the kitchen is two other Trolls arguing over something idiotic at best. Karkat didn't want to get into arguing just yet, so he went over to his laptop and logged in. Much to his surprising pleasure he say John had messaged him a few hours before.

EB: so i talked jade and she will talk to you though she isnt very on board with the whole thing.

EB: also i talked to my dad and you can come over and hang out and talk. tell me if that works for ya.

Well John, looks like you pulled through with me. He looked down at the clock in the corner of the screen: 10:35 AM, that should be plenty of time. Karkat looked over at the two in the kitchen and shouted out, "HEY FUCK FACES! IS KANAYA HERE?!"


	3. First Impressions

_So… This must be the place. _Karkat stood in front of Apartment 13, its door seemed ominous to him. He kept checking the address he wrote down nervously: 21605 Fir Drive, Apt. 13. _What am I fucking doing?! _Karkat paced back and forth across the doormat. _Why am I even checking it, I was just here last night… And that is by far the creepiest stalkerish thought I have ever formed. Seriously, I must be the biggest shithead waste of genetic material in this whole god damn city! I just met- NO! I CAN'T EVEN FUCKING SAY THAT! _

His pacing became more erratic and he seemed to be sweating through the disguise Kanaya had whipped up for him to go out. _I saved her from some pathetic lowly maggot of a criminal and now I'm asking her questions for that stupid shit stain of a Tumblr blog that I use to cover my own tracks! I must look like some horrible awkward stalker. But what am I supposed to do? It's been over six months since we've gone into hiding and up until two months ago I've been stuck with those lameasses for social necessities and half of them are psychopathic most of the fucking time! I'm no better though, but come on, of all the sad people I've saved only one has had the balls to look at me and then even thanked me! Not one of those ungrateful bastards has even thanked me for risking my messed up life for their necks. This is the first face to fucking face interaction you've had with a normal person! JUST MAN THE FUCK UP AND KNOCK ON THE DOOR!_

Knock. Knock. Knock. Everything seemed still, uncomfortably quiet in fact. Karkat waited for a few seconds and then started making a beeline for the elevator at the end of the hall. _This was a stupid idea in the first place. _The sound of a door opening made him jolt up and stiffen. "Karkat!" He turned around to see John's grinning face hanging out of the now open doorway. "My apartment is down here, what are you doing down there?"

Karkat swallowed his panic and dread before John could notice. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. "Nothing, don't worry a fucking second over it because you wouldn't understand with your inferior brain."

"Whatever you say." His head popped back into the apartment. "Come on in, my dad made a cake for you if you want it." John was right about that, Karkat walked in and immediately saw the largest cake he had ever seen plated on the coffee table. It's three layers were lined with grey frosting and screaming diabetes.

"What. The literal Fuck?" Karkat couldn't stop eyeing the mass of cake, "Your dad baked that for me?"

"Well it's not for me! I actually don't like cake for the most part. Dad's the one who's into baking, more of an obsessive hobby than anything." He petted the white dog that seemed to appear from nowhere. "If you think that's something, you should see the ones he bakes on my birthday, he baked about seven total last time."

"You like cake Karkat?" John sat down on the couch and reached for the soda he left on the table. Karkat said, "Cake's alright I guess. It's been a long time since I had any." He sat down with John and cut himself a slice. "Is it any good?"

"Oh, I may not like it anymore but my dad makes the best cakes!" Karkat slowly took a bite out of the cake. He savored its rich sweet taste. They never really celebrated birthdays, couldn't remember when they were, so this was special. Karkat's seemed to bulge out of his skull, "Oh my fucking god this is good." He started to chow down into the slice and then cut himself another. John just smiled at him, "I'm glad you like it."

After the third slice he asked John about the dog, "Oh Bec? Yeah, we found him on the street about three months ago. He looked sad and tired so Jade snuck him into the house. She and I had to fight like hell to keep dad from kicking him out." Karkat seemed to stare at the dog, his bright green eyes shining back at him. "Don't worry Karkat, he's friendly." Karkat reached out to pet him and to his surprise it didn't bark at him or anything. Bec just sat there content while Karkat petted him.

"He's alright," Karkat seemed to smile, but it was somewhat awkward and nervous. "So anyway, where the hell is your bucktoothed sister?"

"She's either sleeping or getting ready-" As if his words were signalling Jade, the water from the shower began to sound. "Yep! There she is. She might take a while though." John pulled out the drawer on the side of the coffee table and took out what looked like a gamecube controller. "You wanna just hang out til then?"

Karkat thought about it for a moment, "Sure." He took the controller in his hands as John went over and started up the console. _It might feel nice to act normal._

* * *

They played for about an hour or so. John had put in one of his new favorite game, Super Smash Bros. Wii U. Karkat didn't get the hang of it at first and he nearly threw the controller at the screen. John stopped him then he just laughed about it saying, "It's alright man, I was shit when I started to. It's just a game after all." John stuck with Mega Man for the most part, Karkat seemed to like Meta Knight for the most part. He was starting to get the hang of things when Jade came in.

Karkat and John were facing the screen, deep in concentration. Then, "John? Have you seen my…" Her voice trailed off as she noticed someone other than her brother sitting on the couch. Karkat turned around to see who was speaking. Standing in the hallway was Jade, her hair was still wet from the shower. She looked shocked and blushing for some reason and then he realized that she was only wearing a green towel around her torso. His hands quickly covered his flushed red face before his eyes could wander. Jade tried to say something but all that came out were awkward sounds and then ran back into her room and John sat there with a weird look on his face.

John turned to Karkat, "So…. That was awkward." Karkat parted the fingers on his face so he could look at John, "No fucking way that couldn't have been idiot." Karkat just sat there trying to not be embarrassed, he practically saw her naked! He seemed to stew for another five minutes while John sat there with that confused look on his face. Karkat finally lifted the hands from his face and stuffed another bite of cake into it. John got up, "Maybe I should go apologize, I should've told her you were here."

Karkat got up with him and told him to sit back down. "I'll do it, I'm the one she's so damn embarrassed about. You owe me one though Egbert." He walked off before John could protest. Karkat walked down the hall Jade had come out of, realizing that he forgot to ask which room was her's. Bec trailed after him, _I had forgot about you. _The dog then passed him and sat in front of a door with a radioactive warning sticker and a squiddle. _Is that her room? And how in hell did the fucking dog know I was looking for her? _He approached slowly, and held his breath for a moment before knocking on the door.

"Go away John." Jade muttered through the door. Karkat tried to pipe up a bit and keep his cursing to a minimum. She's already upset enough. "It's Karkat, John's friend, are you alright?" The door opened up a bit and made Karkat jump back. Jade's head popped out and he couldn't tell if she was angry or sad.

"Well what do you think? I walk out half naked and my little brother's friend is waiting for me and gets to see me be all…. Naked!" She blushed a little bit and Karkat realized the heat hadn't left his face quite yet either. "It's completely embarrassing and I feel stupid." She stared down at his shoes.

"Jade. And before you ask, yes, I know you're name. John's talked about you before. But look, it's not that bad, I didn't see anything and you weren't THAT naked I guess." He tried not to make eye contact. _Not completely blowing the fuck out of this. _"I just wanted to say I'm sorry, even if that doesn't make you feel better."

Jade looked up at him and met her bright green eyes. "It doesn't hurt," she said back at him. Karkat could feel his face getting bright red, Jade giggled at him. His eyes darted back and forth, "So, I'll be out with John. You coming out soon?"

"Yeah. It'll just be a second." She smiled, the look of half sadness and half anger gone.

"Alright, see you then." He walked off back to John, not wanting to look back at Jade and seem even more stupid. John was sitting there watching something on the TV. John looked over to him, "So how did it go?"

Karkat just seemed to ignore the fact he asked him anything and sat beside him on the couch. He reached for the remote and switched back to the game. "Hey! I was watching that Karkat!" He just looked at John with a serious look, "What are you talking bout? We still have a game to finish." Everything felt good, not a word about the Iron Knight was spoken.

* * *

Kanaya asked Karkat where he'd been, "I was out, like I fucking told you. Geez." He walked over to one of the nasty bathrooms in the warehouse. He washed off most of the make-up Kanaya had put on him to cover up his grey skin, took out the fake hair extensions to hide his horns, and slide off the fake teeth. He smiled into the broken mirror to see his pointed teeth. Karkat was one of the lucky ones, it took so little to hide the fact he was a Troll. Most of his "friends" had to go to much greater lengths to hide their mutations, especially the horns. Kanaya had been talking to him the entire time and he hadn't heard a word, "Could you repeat whatever the hell you've been saying?"

Kanaya was leaning on the doorway in a very hostile position, she didn't seem happy. "Where have you been Karkat? You left the warehouse almost six hours ago and it is almost dusk? You are fortunate that we did not have to call you, there has not been much of anything we need to intervene on today." Her calm and poised tone seemed to carry the message that she was completely neutral, but Karkat has known her long enough to know what she's feeling. _She's pissed at me. _

Kanaya walked off, still talking to Karkat as he followed in a ramble of information that was completely pointless to him. He kept trying to find a point where he could stop the one-sided conversation. She was brewing coffee and finally after she took a sip Karkat interrupted, "I just went out alright? No need to give me a fucking lecture over the entire of the irresponsibility of my actions as you so daintily put it." He tried to put as much sarcasm into that sentence as he could. He walked over to the dingy fridge and pulled out a can of Tab. "Nothing went wrong, I am.. whatever the fuck we call alright, and no one noticed I'm a god awful mutant so stop being so damn preachy!"

Kanaya didn't move her eyes away from him as he walked over to his space. It was the closest thing he had to a room, a measly fifty square feet of unwalled space, but it was all his. Karkat fell onto his dingy mattress and stared at the high ceiling. Today was fun, seriously one of the only times he could say he felt that way in a long time. More of anything it made him feel normal. _They can't know. Sollux would kill me for doing this. _He turned over and looked over to the large stack of trashed and refurbished computer parts. Monitors, towers, and various keyboards and mice crowded around a kid in red and blue glasses with two pairs of horns. He was deeply engrossed in whatever he was doing on the screen, the light constantly flashing across his face. Another troll walked by and tried to gain his attention but he waved them off without moving his head from the screen. Karkat began to grind his teeth together, _Don't talk to the normal people he said. Yeah right, _Karkat stared at him in the darkness, _it was just a matter of fucking time before someone broke his precious rule._

He turned back around, _besides, they don't know I'm a Troll and they never will. I just need to make sure that I don't suffocate from guilt. _They hadn't talked at all about his persona, the Iron Knight. Karkat was glad they hadn't at that point, never enjoyed talking about the superhero game. Not wanting to think about it any more, he put in his worn out earbuds and turned on one of his favorite romantic comedies and feel asleep.


	4. Strife

Almost two weeks had gone by and Karkat was on a patrol. Leaping across building after building gets old very quickly, but it's nice to have the time to be alone. He had been seeing John and Jade almost every day and he texted both of them just as much, he'd even met their father. Mr. Egbert and John had pranked him with a cake filled with food coloring, he came back that day with green teeth that took four hours of brushing to clean.

Karkat landed on a small condominium and his phone buzzed in his inner pocket. He awkwardly felt around for it and pulled it out to see Jade's text: GG: hey karkat, wanna come hang out with us? :) me and john are having a few people over. Karkat was about to respond when his earbud went off with chatter. Dammit, can't even respond. He pressed his finger against his ear and quietly screamed, "What the hell are you fuckers yelling about!?"

Kanaya's voice came in over the airwaves, her normal demeanor had been exchanged for her almost screaming. "Karkat, it's them! Get your ass over here, NOW! Follow the lights!" He could hear what sounded like explosions behind her voice. Karkat looked back towards the ghettos of Skaia-City alight with strobing colors and fire. He shouted back at them as he ran towards the chaos, "Let's rip those fucking bastards a new one!"

* * *

Jade picked up her phone again, no new messages. She sat back down on the couch as Roxy and John fought each other on screen with Dave making jabs at both of them. Jade looked over at Rose in the chair she pulled in from the kitchen, "I don't think he's coming." Disappointment filled her, she genuinely was hoping to see Karkat again.

Rose put down whatever macabre book she was reading to talk to her sad friend. "You must really like him to be expressing this level of sadness." She acted like a therapist towards her, she couldn't help it really but she saw herself that way.

Jade got defensive and her face flushed a bit. "No," she said, "It's just that he didn't even respond." She looked back at her phone hoping for a response. "It's been almost ten minutes, he usually is good about responding to these..." Jade looked down at her shoes and hung there in silence, only Rose noticed her emotion. Rose put her hand on Jade's shoulder, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure he's fine." Jade hugged her, "I actually do like him a lot, even Bec likes him! I just don't want anything to mess up my relationship with him."

She flashed her a smile as John motioned them out of their moment. He looked either excited or worried, Jade couldn't tell. He just looked back at the television and said, "Can you guys believe this?" Jade glanced at the screen and her jaw nearly dropped.

On a live news feed, what seemed to be an unreal fight was taking place. Two gangs were squaring off, destroying the derelict houses they crashed through. The Felt and the Midnight Crew had been fighting for years but never anything like this! This was mass chaos, mayhem, destruction. The reporter said that already ten civilians had been taken hostage by the Felt and five more had died in the crossfire already. "This can't be happening," Jade muttered under her breath. The screen looked like a warzone and this wasn't even ten miles from where they were sitting!

The reporter pointed out two men in bright green suits each with a different colored hat on, one yellow and the other blue. She identified them as two of the Felts higher ups who had been sprung from prison in a mass riot. Almost immediately after she said this, a shadow crossed in front of the helicopter window. Three new figures landed on what little roof was left and jumped into the fighting. None of them could pay attention to what the news reporter was saying, only at the blazing fight happening below. John started to ask something without moving his eyes from the screen, "Is that him Jade?" Jade simply nodded her head as the Iron Knight fought on screen.

* * *

Fire raged as the bullets hailed from the oncoming assault of Felt gunmen. Kanaya had already taken out about six of the gang members, Sollux was trying to keep the firefight from bringing the building down. He face grimaced with pain as he used his psionic powers to keep the building together as Kanya butchered down below him. Karkat rushed towards two men standing above all the other Felt gang members, directing the other in combat like generals.

Both of them were in the gang uniform, bright green suits except they had hats. The one in the yellow bowler hat with the one was Japanese, he seemed to be constantly on edge and barking commands faster than his mouth allowed him. His companion, a older and slightly larger latino man, wore his blue top hat emblazoned with the number two slouched over the battlefield with a sad expression. He seemed to be slow, not that he had a disability but that he seemed to move slower than everything around him.

Karkat rushed at them a sickle in each hand and his armor encasing him. Leaping through the air, he screamed as he slammed down his blades towards the one in the yellow hat's face. But before they made contact he was gone! Karkat collided with the earth and glanced over to see his target a few yards away, furrowing his brow as green light seemed to flash from his eyes. Shit.

The high ranking Felt member known as Itchy came at him with incredible speed, before he knew what was going on Karkat was kicked against a wall. Since fucking when do these guys have powers! Itchy ran at him again but Karkat hardened his chitin armor before he charged. Itchy's fist collided with the armor and recoiled. The Iron Knight uppercutted him in that brief moment before he darted off to higher ground. He chased after him, strike at him but only hitting his suit. Dozens of cuts littered it as he continued to parlay Karkat's attacks. "I've had enough of you!" Karkat grunted in a deep voice as he kicked Itchy square in the chest. He landed with a loud thud that seemed to wake Doze from whatever daze he had been in. He had been sitting in the background this whole fight, no one noticing him.

By now only a few stragglers were still in the ruined building, Kanaya cleaning them up with the last of the Midnight Crew present. Karkat shouted at Kanaya, "Sanguia! NOW!" She immediately lunged towards Itchy with her chainsaw in tow. She moved with grace despite its size and swung it at her target. He dodged her advances with lightning quickness but what remained of his suit was tattered and cut up. He retreated as both the Iron Knight and Sanguia converged on him, closing in for the kill. Before they could get within ten feet of him, the other one seemed to appear from nowhere. Itchy moved out of the zone before Doze activated his powers, he created a field around himself with Kanaya and Karkat inside. Everything moved extremely slow inside and they were hopelessly stuck mid-attack.

Itchy laughed at them as he moved towards Sollux. Sollux noticed the commotion behind him and turned around to welcome Itchy's fist to his face. He flew back and caught himself mid-air before he hit the wall. Sollux tried to blast him but Itchy was too fast, bullet punch after bullet punch his stamina wouldn't let up. The desperate troll needed a plan, the other trolls are on the opposite side of the city and Karkat and Kanaya are stuck. He's lucky that Karkat was close enough to help them out. Sollux dodged the next punch and launched Itchy back with his psionic lasers. Only one shot, he thought to himself as he fired again but not at Itchy. The shot landed in Doze's field, super-slowed along with the rest of them. Checkmate.

Itchy got up and saw the beam slowly inching towards his comrade. He shouted something in anger and ran through the field like it was nothing, picking up Doze and running off before the others could react. They hit the ground hard, Karkat blacked out a bit before Kanaya held him up on her shoulder. "Let's get out of this decrepit place," she said in her normal calm voice, despite the chaos she seemed fine as she licked the blood of her wrist. As if on queue a black van raced down the street outside and they disappeared into the night.

* * *

Karkat took off his mask and wiped the sweat from his forehead, "What the fuck happened out there?!" He leaned back in his chair and tried to relax his muscles but every ounce of his body surged with pain. Sollux took of his mask as well and held his head in his hands. Either he was having a hell of a headache or he was trying to make sense of what just happened out there, chances were it was a little bit of both.

Kanaya sat up, all the blood that had been coating her a moment ago gone, "Obviously there is something that you have missed. Most likely that our combined efforts in slowing the enemy down has not worked as effectively as we thought." Karkat realized she wasn't talking to him halfway through the first sentence. In the front seat, driving faster than the police could track, was a cold gentleman in a black fedora. His icy expression didn't change as he speed through three red lights and a stop sign.

Diamonds Droog without turning around said only these words, "I don't know what you three did but you pissed him off." One the only elite members of the Midnight rode them off into the nightscape and away from the lights of the city. The trolls hung in silence, watching the buildings zoom past them without any knowledge of the time passed. Karkat checked his phone, no new messages. He opened his phone to try and message her but as soon as he loaded up the app a message appeared: GC: BL1ND JUST1C3 R3PORT1NG, WH4T H4PP3N3D OUT TH3R3 K4RK4T? :? Karkat quickly typed up a message saying that he'd rather not talk about it until after the lecture. Before he knew it they were pulling into a dingy "nightclub" (if you could even call it that). Tobacco smoke poured out of the doorway as some gangster flopped out drunk onto the street. The car parked around back where the lights didn't shine on them and Karkat, Kanaya, and Sollux walked down a meat cellar door. They were greeted by a harsh raspy voice, the man's spade pin shining on his blazer, "And where they hell have you three been?!"


End file.
